Moving before notice period

[MamaBear81]

Hi all.
I’ve been living in a very small 1 bed private rental with my DD. She’s 2. I’ve been on the council list for over a year and bidding on 2 bed properties.
Yesterday I was offered one, and when I accepted, the keys were handed straight to me there and then and my tenancy there began.
I have to pay my first rent there on 10th of this month.
I spoke to my current landlord and told him I have accepted the offer of a two bed property from social housing, and would be vacating the premises before my next rent is due on 12th.
They said they cannot accept my notice yet, as I have to give them one month from my next rental due date.
But the demand for social housing is extremely high in my area, so if had turned down the property it would have been offered to the next person, they couldn’t just hold it empty for me for a month while waiting for my current tenancy to end.
When I moved into my old property, I paid a months rent in advance, so I am paid up until the 12th of this month. However they still want me to pay another months rent on the 12th of this month even though I won’t be occupying the premises, aswell as the rent on my new property which I can’t afford to do.
What would happen if I just moved out before the date I’ve already paid up to?

Unfortunately you have to follow the rules and cough up that rent, most rental agreements have a notice period you have to stick to. If you don't pay, they'll likely take legal action for it, it'll mess with your credit and you'll end up paying far more than you would.

Do you receive UC? You may be able to get an advance or some sort of help there if you're really stuck.

Can I suggest contacting your local council and asking for a discretionary housing payment ? This will potentially cover one of the rents . Don’t refuse the council offer . Good luck

its not really the right thing to do as it’s going to leave the flat empty before they can let it again - but equally if you just do it, all they can do is keep your deposit I presume, I doubt they’d try and sue you?

What does your contract say?

It will almost certainly require you to give a notice period - this is often a month, but you will need to check your contract to be sure.

Presumably you paid a deposit, and this is in a protected scheme - you should have proof of this. You could tell the landlord to keep the deposit, but there are a couple of things to bear in mind...

• If your deposit does not cover a month's rent, you will still owe the landlord money.

• If the landlord needs to make any deductions from your deposit, it may not even scratch the surface of a month's rent, if there's any left over at all.

If you leave owning money this will affect your credit score which will make it harder to obtain credit or rent privately in the future.

As PP have said, there may be grants/assistance available to you - this should be your first port of call. Otherwise, consider putting the rent on a credit card if you can, or borrowing from family.

You could also ask the landlord if he would consider a payment plan - Assuming you've had no issues paying rent before and we're talking hundreds rather than thousands, this would be much easier/cheaper for him than taking you to court.

In answer to your question. They would keep the month's rent. I'd just take my time moving and say I'm leaving on 11th of the following month. I'd also say I can leave earlier if they want to agree this.

You don't need to move immediately. Pay the month's notice and move essentials so you can make the new place your own and ready.

You presumably signed a contract that stated you'd give 1 months notice but can only be given on the anniversary of the payment date. If your rent date is the 12th of the month. You can only give notice of one month on the 12th of the month to leave on the 11th of the following month. If you give notice on 12th of March you need to pay rent as normal on that date. You'd hand back keys on 11th of April. You should get a full deposit back then unless you've left damage. Ask the council for a discretionary payment. If you claim UC get a loan and pay it back once you get the deposit back. I'm sure you can see giving 1 months notice to your LL is fair and that's what you signed up to in your contract. If it had been the other way round your LL would have given you 2 months notice. How would you have felt if your LL had just wanted to give you 1 week notice?

OP has said that she cannot afford both the last month's rent in her current property and the first month's rent in her new property, which she has to pay simultaneously.

If you move out without giving notice then your deposit would be used to cover rent due and other expenses. That would include utility bills, council tax etc and any repairs that needed to be done to the property. If the deposit isn't enough to pay those bills then you may be billed separately for them.
The amount you owe may be reduced if the landlord is able to find another tenant quickly, but there is no guarantee that will happen and it's also possible that you could be liable for the costs of marketing the property as well.